The present invention relates to an apparatus for separating blood into its component liquid plasma or serum phase and its solid cellular phase.
It is known that it is clinically desirable to isolate serum from clotted human blood as soon as possible after a blood sample has been collected and clotted. Serum that has not been isolated from the clot may undergo changes with certain chemical constituents rendering test data on those constituents misleading, for example, serum potassium, glucose and certain enzymes. Devices for the isolation or separation of the plasma or serum phase from the cellular phase of blood are presently employed. Several of these devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,355,098, 3,481,477, 3,508,653, 3,512,940, 3,661,265 and 3,693,804.
The present invention proposes to improve upon the separation and isolation of the solid and liquid phases of blood.